No need for much explanation as every result from across the state can be found HERE, but I will touch on some interesting news and notes.

In Class AAAAAAA, No. 9 Mountain View not only punched their first ticket to state in school history, but they also won their first region title by winning three straight games by one point in the Region 6 tournament, capped by a 59-58 title game victory over No. 10 Collins Hill who reenters the poll. This week’s casualties are Lambert (23-4) and Grayson (18-9). Mountain View along with Class AAAAAA’s No. 4 Lakeside-Evans were both featured as Sandy’s Spiel Sleeper Teams way back in May. The other sleeper team? Alexander who finished with 17 wins but was shutout of a state playoff bid in Class AAAAAA.

Class AAAAAA was stunned to see Jonesboro upset in the Region 4 championship by first time entry to the poll No. 5 Stephenson, 61-58. Even with the loss, the Cardinals narrowly cling onto the No. 3 spot. No. 6 Brunswick shoots up into the poll after capturing the Region 2 title. Alpharetta (25-3) and Heritage-Conyers (18-7) both exit after failing to win their respective regions. No. 9 Langston Hughes falls five spots and will hope that a little addition by subtraction will help them play to their full potential come tournament time.

No. 9 Dutchtown and No. 10 Villa Rica debut in the final regular season Class AAAAA poll. Riverwood (21-5) and Union Grove (21-7) both slip out. Villa Rica has won seven straight games and is playing their best ball of the season while Dutchtown has enjoyed an 8-win increase in Jamal Basit’s first year as head coach.

Class AAAA has been a jungle all season long outside of No. 1 Upson-Lee. The Knights join Class AAAAAAA No. 1 McEachern and Class A-Public No. 2 Treutlen as the only teams left chasing perfection. No. 4 Carver-Columbus climbs after being unranked and winning the Region 1 title in another wild week. Cartersville (20-6) exits the Top 10 after a slew of close games in the Region 5 tournament.

The Top 5 in Class AAA all took care of business but Greater Atlanta Christian couldn’t, dropping to No. 8 after No. 7 East Hall stunned them for a second time to win the Region 7 title. Central-Macon (19-7) barely drops out to make room for the Vikings.

Dublin was ranked No. 2 last week in Class AA and now sits at No. 10 after being upset by Washington County in the Region 3 championship 49-47, but the biggest reason for the Irish’s drop is the suspension of star point guard Kameron Pauldo. The high octane scorer that averages over 25 points per game was ejected last night and must miss two playoff games, all but ruining Dublin’s chance at a state title run.

Holy Innocents’ (17-8) and Darlington (18-5) depart from the Class A-Private poll. No. 9 Tattnall Square Academy is back in the picture while No. 10 Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy debuts for the first time. First year head coach Derrick Mason has gone 19-6 a year after the Chargers finished 4-19.

Class A-Public will be an all-out war in the state playoffs once the brackets are set. No. 2 Treutlen’s high tempo offense and defense will look to finally get over the hump. Their weak region has hurt them in the past but this year’s field feels as open as it’s ever been.

Things are starting to return to normalcy in Class AAAAAAA. Lowndes (18-4) and Roswell (18-4) couldn’t last a week in the ever competitive Top 10. A 71-40 win over Camden County wasn’t enough to save the Vikings from falling out after a 61-46 loss to Madison County, FL. The Hornets were stung by Etowah, 51-46. No. 8 Lambert held up their end of the bargain, beating Milton 95-86. Replacing Lowndes and Roswell are No. 9 Tift County and first-time poll entry in school history, No. 10 Mountain View. Tift County rocked Colquitt County 60-40 on the road and added a 77-54 win over Coffee. The Bears may be just 6-5 in Region 6, but their overall record and their latest 53-48 win at Collins Hill is enough to give Mountain View a shot. Over in Region 2, Wheeler moves up two spots to No. 6 after beating No. 7 Westlake 78-63 at home. The Wildcats then faltered at the Cobb Civic Center against No. 3 Pebblebrook, squandering a 14-point lead and losing 80-77. Collin Sexton scored 35, an encore from his 53-point Senior Night performance against rival Campbell in a 104-88 victory.

In Class AAAAAA, No. 1 South Paulding has continued to find ways to win the close game. They edged No. 9 Alexander 52-50 on Friday and won at New Manchester 67-63. No. 2 Gainesville is the most talented team in the state in their classification, but there’s always something threatening to hold back the Red Elephants. This time it’s combo guard Xavier Bledson bruising his tailbone. Even without Bledson, like he has all year long, head coach Benjie Wood has found a way to keep his team focused and has leaned on their exceptional depth to win games using a “next man-up” approach. Gainesville escaped Top 10 returnee No. 10 Dacula 63-59 on the road. With Bledson out, Mike White and Kajuan Hale picked up the slack combining for 30 points. The biggest movers this week are No. 4 Alpharetta, No. 5 Lakeside-Evans and No. 7 Glynn Academy. Langston Hughes’ bad 60-52 loss at Mays has dropped the Panthers two spots while Richmond Hill sinks three spots to No. 8, paving the way for the Raiders, Panthers and Terrors to climb. Glynn Academy is debuting for the first time this year. They are red hot in Region 2, winning seven straight including a 60-57 victory over Richmond Hill and a 71-63 win against Brunswick, paced by Durand Green’s 39 points. South Cobb (18-5) exits the poll after a 74-61 loss against Harrison. Things don’t get any easier this week as they travel to Dalton (17-4) on Tuesday with first-place up for grabs in Region 6.

Alex Jones poured in 37 points to keep No. 1 Buford undefeated in Region 8-AAAAA, leading the Wolves to a 74-61 win over Flowery Branch. No. 4 Miller Grove gets its golden sticker victory, beating region rival No. 5 Columbia 63-58 behind Tae Hardy’s 28 points and big man Kevin Paige’s 14. Fayette County tumbles to No. 6 after an upset loss at Starr’s Mill, 69-59. Stockbridge (15-9), New Hampstead (15-6) and Eagle’s Landing (15-6) all depart from the rankings. The Phoenix and Eagles haven’t quite lived up to their lofty expectations just yet. New Hampstead was upset at Ware County 59-57 while Eagle’s Landing’s slide in Region 4 continued, losing to Jones County 55-53. New Region 4 leader, Union Grove, is back in the Top 10 at No. 7. No. 8 Riverwood also reappears. In for the first time this season is No. 9 Carrollton. The Trojans are winners of eight straight and host Cass in a big Region 7 showdown with a share of first-place in the balance.

Baldwin (14-8), Perry (18-5) and Salem (15-7) all fall out from the Class AAAA rankings, the Braves losing back-to-back games, the Panthers upset at Dooly County 55-53 and the Seminoles losing to both No. 2 Henry County (55-52) and Druid Hills (63-54). Moving back in are familiar faces No. 8 Eastside, No. 9 St. Pius X and No. 10 Thomson. Now forget about everything else and focus in on Region 5. It goes: No. 4 Sandy Creek, No. 5 LaGrange and No. 6 Cartersville. Try to follow the bouncing ball. LaGrange beat Cartersville on Tuesday 67-52. Cartersville beat Sandy Creek at home on Friday 94-88 in overtime. The Patriots bounced back the next day and blew out the Grangers 85-63. Everything looks right as the Patriots remain at No. 4, LaGrange only falls two spots after a 22-point loss and Cartersville moves up two spots after splitting with the two best teams in the region.

Don’t look now but No. 2 Liberty County is officially surging in Class AAA. The defending Class AAAA champions are now fully healthy and are taking no prisoners along the way. The Panthers crushed Brantley County 101-56 and got revenge against Brunswick 71-56. Will Richardson is a star and senior Davion Mitchell (Auburn) has taken a backseat after having to carry the load his first three seasons. Richardson splashed in nine three-pointers en route to 35 points against Brantley County while Mitchell netted 24. Against Brunswick, Richardson hung 41 more points as Mitchell added 18. Greater Atlanta Christian falls from No. 2 to No. 6 after No. 7 East Hall and coach Joe Dix masterfully defeated the bigger Spartans 74-57 and now have a share of the Region 7 lead. Central-Macon stumbled at Rutland, losing 58-56 and in the process lose their place in the Top 10. The Chargers are replaced by No. 10 Islands.

Class AA juggernaut No. 1 South Atlanta barely survived Hapeville Charter 66-63. Hapeville is on the precipice of being ranked after winning nine out of their last 10 games, but they must wait at least another week. . Putnam County (16-6) fell to Morgan County 66-55 in a tough fought game. They are replaced by No. 9 Monticello, who hosts the War Eagles on Friday. Augusta’s Region 4 continues to be a mess for more than just the action on the floor. Josey falls two spots to No. 8 after losing to Westside-Augusta 51-48. No. 3 Laney defeated No. 6 Butler 67-64 in overtime. The trading of wins and losses makes the region tough to rank as it is, but it’s nearly impossible to get a proper gauge of what’s going on out East as half the teams in the region don’t understand how to use MaxPreps and input their scores. Who knows what’s going on with Westside? I don’t. It says they are only 6-7 overall which can’t be possible. Maybe they are a good team (5-2 region record) but no one will ever know because their coaching staff isn’t doing their job and aren’t reporting scores. The same goes for Laney, who is missing a handful of results. If you’re in the Augusta area, pass the word on: Do your job so I can do mine.

No. 1 Greenforest is still the team to beat in Class A-Private and cemented that by drilling No. 5 Southwest Atlanta Christian 85-58. No. 6 Lakeview Academy handed No. 10 Tallulah Falls its first loss of the season, 59-51. Holy Innocents’ sinks to No. 9 after being dropped by a much improved Wesleyan team, 72-51. Golden Bears leading scorer Cole Smith has been out with jumper’s knee and hopes to return before the state playoffs.

In Class A-Public, No. 1 Calhoun County took it to No. 4 Quitman County 75-52. The Hornets lost for the second time this year to Eufala, AL 74-65 before their region showdown with the Cougars. After a pair of losses, Quitman County rebounded with a 76-64 win over No. 9 Randolph-Clay. No. 3 Wilkinson County keeps climbing after drilling Twiggs County 85-59, First Presbyterian Day 55-37 and knocking Macon County (15-7) from the poll 72-64. Taylor County (14-4) and Hawkinsville (14-9) are gone as well. Crawford County defeated Taylor County 61-53 and the Vikings turned around and beat the Red Devils 56-49, but it’s not enough to hold onto a spot. All returning are No. 6 Lincoln County, No. 8 Wilcox County and No. 10 Central-Talbotton. The Red Devils of Lincoln County are finally back in the Top 10 after falling out in Week 3 due to not tipping off the season until Dec. 13. Reigning Class A-Public Player of the Year 6-foot-7 Ahmad Rand has received help from Javon Reid and Maciah Gunby along with a handful of talented freshmen.

Class A-Public

Calhoun County (15-1)

Quitman County (15-1)

Treutlen (18-0)

Turner County (16-5)

Wilkinson County (14-5)

Randolph-Clay (13-3)

Macon County (14-5)

Taylor County (13-3)

Hawkinsville (13-8)

Clinch County (15-4)

It was a seismic week of upsets in the state of Georgia. At the Peachtree Corners Invitational held at Norcross High School, the Peach State went 0-5. To make matters worse, a whopping seven Top 10 ranked Class AAAAAAA teams lost leading to the biggest shakeup in the poll to date. Gone are Tift County (19-2), Collins Hill (15-5) and Discovery (14-7). The Blue Devils were upset at home by new No. 6 Lowndes, 60-58, behind Octavious Fudge’s 29 points. Thanks to the wild week, the Vikings debut above bluebloods No. 7 Berkmar and No. 8 Wheeler who suffered bad losses. Berkmar beat Meadowcreek 61-56 but was stunned by Brookwood 57-51. Wheeler looked awful against Greensboro Day, NC at PTC, losing 56-36. The Wildcats were held to three points in the first quarter and saw the Bengals close on a 24-8 run. Collins Hill falls out after losing to Effingham County 51-43 and in overtime to Mill Creek 68-67. The Hawks were the ultimate spoiler, also adding a 57-54 victory over Discovery to knock the Titans out of the Top 10. Entering the poll alongside Lowndes for the first time is No. 9 Lambert and No. 10 Roswell. The Longhorns are no stranger to being ranked but after losing Connor Mannion (Navy) and Ross Morkem (North Georgia), it took some time for Lambert to fully establish themselves as a Top 10 team. They took sole control of Region 5 with a 77-72 win over Milton. Roswell has come out of nowhere in Region 4 and has raced to a 6-0 region mark. The Hornets have grinded teams out, allowing just 44.9 points per game while leaning on sophomore Miles Herron and senior James Anderson to power the offense, averaging 13 and 12 points per game respectively. Norcross lost to Bishop O’Connell, VA at PTC 63-58 but rise thanks to their strong showing and an earlier win at the Music City Classic. No. 5 Westlake survived at Campbell 67-63, but couldn’t do so against 9-10 North Clayton on the Eagles’ alumni night, losing 62-53 as Keondre Kennedy powered North Clayton with 21 points. No. 1 Newton stayed perfect by crushing Zion Williamson and Spartanburg Day, SC at the BCB MLK Classic 96-75 and turning an 11-point halftime deficit into an 82-73 win at Class A-Private No. 3 Southwest Atlanta Christian. No. 2 McEachern cruised as well, stomping Class A-Private No. 7 Lakeview Academy along with No. 10 Whitefield Academy.

No. 3 Jonesboro is getting healthy in Class AAAAAA. After escaping Tucker with a 66-64 win, the Cardinals finally got 6-foot-6 junior Jamari Smith back. Smith missed the first 18 games with a concussion but has immediately made an impact, posting 20 points and seven rebounds against Lovejoy and 22 points and six boards against Mundy’s Mill. No. 1 South Paulding had two scares, rallying to beat Douglas County on the road in overtime 96-94 after trailing by eight with 40 seconds left in regulation. The Spartans then edged Tri-Cities 54-50 on the road. Langston Hughes regains the No. 4 spot as they jump No. 5 Richmond Hill. The Panthers picked up two big wins against ranked opponents, beating Class AAA No. 5 Jenkins 77-70 at the BCB MLK Classic and No. 10 Alexander, 57-50. No. 2 Gainesville rolled Dacula 79-53 to take a commanding hold of Region 8. The Red Elephants followed up with a 78-68 victory over Dawson Christian Academy without leading scorer Bailey Minor and KJ Buffen.

Class AAAA almost saw a devastating loss for No. 1 Upson-Lee. The Knights had to use three overtimes to survive 3-win Griffin 75-68. Before the Bears game, the Knights stopped No. 9 Perry 58-52. No. 2 Henry County hosts No. 10 Salem on Tuesday after blitzing Eastside 76-45. Salem lost at Woodward Academy 58-50. Richmond Academy tumbles four spots to No. 7 after getting blown out by No. 6 Baldwin, 52-31. The Braves are back in the Top 10 and are joined by fellow returnee, No. 5 Americus-Sumter after the Panthers blew out Carver-Columbus 76-55, dropping the Tigers from No. 6 to unranked. Carver also lost to rival Columbus 64-61. St. Pius’ stint in the Top 10 was short lived. The Golden Lions were stunned in overtime by Oconee County 61-60 on a buzzer beater. St. Pius however did collect themselves and earned a 56-39 victory at Stephens County. All eyes shift to No. 4 LaGrange on Tuesday as they host No. 8 Cartersville in a critical Region 5 showdown.

It was revenge week in Class AAA. Khavon Moore put on a show for No. 1 Westside-Macon. The star point-forward dropped a school-record 53 points along with 13 rebounds and 7 assists in front of Ohio State. Before his historic game against Kendrick, the Seminoles got payback against rival No. 7 Central-Macon, beating the Chargers 60-55. No. 3 Liberty County got revenge as well, destroying Long County and kicking the Blue Tide from the Top 10 with a 121-82 victory. No. 4 Pace Academy did the same, avenging an earlier loss to No. 8 Cedar Grove (without Wendell Carter) 69-52 now at full strength. New No. 9 East Hall will look for the same as they host No. 2 Greater Atlanta Christian on Tuesday for a chance to take a share of first-place in Region 8. The Vikings lost in their first meeting 71-62. It was a nightmarish week for Islands, who has now lost three straight games and plummets out of the poll at 13-7. The Sharks were stunned by 6-13 Southeast Bulloch, 77-58. No. 5 Jenkins made things worse by bullying around their main competition 74-55 which led to a heated confrontation between head coaches Bakari Bryant and Karl DeMasi. Rivalries are alive and well in Savannah. With Islands’ departure, Dougherty slides back in at No. 10.

Region 4-AA goes spots 4 through 6 with No. 4 Laney, No. 5 Butler and No. 6 Josey. Laney handed Glenn Hills (13-7) a 59-55 home loss after Butler edged the Spartans 67-60 and dropped them from the poll. The Bulldogs took a bite out of Josey as well, beating the Eagles 67-61, defending their home court. No. 7 Banks County is continuing to control Region 8. They earned a 70-67 win at Monticello. The region inserts another team back into the Top 10 in No. 9 Putnam County. The War Eagles are now 15-5 after finishing 3-23 just a season ago. No. 10 Heard County sneaks back into the poll as well after Early County’s fall from grace spirals on. The Bobcats (13-5) lost 60-55 at Terrell County.

Class A-Private No. 1 Greenforest couldn’t get over the hump in a 46-43 loss to DeMatha, MD at PTC. No. 2 North Cobb Christian knocked Darlington out of the Top 10 with a 76-54 loss. No. 3 Southwest Atlanta Christian almost slayed the dragon known as Newton, but fell short. The Warriors did however hold off No. 6 Holy Innocents’ 71-68. No. 7 Lakeview Academy and No. 8 Tallulah Falls finally do battle in Region 8 as the undefeated Indians host the Lions on Tuesday. No. 9 Tattnall Square Academy completed a sweep of Class A-Public No. 5 Wilkinson County, beating the Warriors 56-55 at The Palace to cement themselves as a Top 10 player in Class A-Private.

Class A-Public’s No. 2 Quitman County has a chance to make amends as they travel to Eufala, AL to face the only team that has beaten them this year (55-54) on Monday. No. 4 Turner County jumps six spots after beating Crisp County 63-55 on the road, dropping Irwin County from the rankings with a 74-68 loss and beating No. 10 Clinch County 76-74. Macon County creeps back into the rankings at No. 7 after picking up three wins against ranked opponents. The Bulldogs beat Irwin County (79-76), Central-Talbotton (58-51) and No. 8 Taylor County (62-35). Central-Talbotton fell out of the rankings while the Vikings sink five spots. Replacing Central-Talbotton is No. 9 Hawkinsville. The Red Devils are back in the poll for the first time since Week 2. They have won 7-straight and host Taylor County on Friday.